Protective surveillance system
AssigneeCornell Research Foundation, Inc.
InventorEli Einbinder
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A system for observing and recording the activity between a practitioner such as a psychiatrist or doctor and a patient includes zoom lens video camera and a microphone having output signals mixed and fed through a delay network to a high capacity tape recorder together with a date/time signal and a remote control for adjusting the recorder speed between a normal recording speed and a dormant slow frame time lapse speed. A monitor is coupled to the mixed signals and the field and orientation of the camera is remotely controlled by the practitioner. A sound or motion sensor may switch the recorder from slow speed to normal recording speed; or in other situations which so dictate, it may initiate the dormant slow frame time lapse speed--regular or random--and so remain.
Claims1
A surveillance system for monitoring subjects in a surveillance area to protect the subjects while preserving their privacy comprising:
- imaging means having a field of view directed to a surveillance area containing at least first and second subjects for monitoring said area and for producing sequential images of at least a part of said area and at least first said subject;
- output means connected to said imaging means and producing image signals corresponding to said images;
- a recorder having an input coupled to said output means for receiving said image signals, said recorder being operable to receive and record successive image signals selectively at a first rate or a second rate to provide a record of activity within said surveillance area;
- controller means for adjusting said recorder to record only selected image signals for protecting the privacy of said subjects;
- said controller means includes means for adjusting said recorder to record image signals at a selected rate between a first rate representing a dormant mode at a second rate representing an active mode;
- said controller means including a control network responsive to activity within said surveillance area to shift said recorder from said normal operation at said first rate representing a dormant mode to said second rate representing an active mode;
- said controller means further including a variable time lapse signal generator to adjust said recorder to operate with a selected time lapse between successive recorded image signals;
- wherein said variable time lapse signal generator only if said controller means is in said dormant mode and
- wherein said time lapse signal generator is variable to adjust said recorder to operate with a random time lapse between successive recorded image signals.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.